LACON — Thursday's Marshall County Board meeting appears likely to answer long-running questions about the future of a largely grant-funded public transportation program that has been shared with neighboring Stark County for nearly 30 years.

The Stark County Board put the ball squarely in Marshall County's court Tuesday by voting 7-1 for a proposed joint resolution that would shift administrative oversight and fund-monitoring responsibilities across the county line.

If approved here Thursday, it would make Marshall the "primary participant" in the program supported largely by grants from the Illinois Department of Transportation. The county would replace Stark as the applicant and recipient of grants, and would also have to create at least a new part-time position to monitor fund distribution to service provider MSW Projects Inc. of Henry.

The new requirement for that position, called a Program Compliance Oversight Monitor, was a key factor in Stark County wanting to shed the administrative role, officials have said. Marshall has 68 percent of the two-county population total of 18,634, documents note.

"We feel like with this new PCOM position, with (Marshall) being the larger county, it makes more sense for them to be the grantee," Stark County Board Chairwoman Coleen Magnussen said Tuesday night.

"This is an administrative change," Magnussen added. "Nothing's going to change in services to the public."

MSW provides regular and handicapped-accessible transportation within both counties and also to Peoria and other locations. Seniors can ride for free, while others pay varying rates.

Officials have been discussing the matter for nearly a year. The Marshall board appears ready to make a decision Thursday, said Vice Chairman Travis McGlasson, even though Chairman Gary Kroeschen and some other members will be absent.

"Gary and I have discussed it and both feel that we should take action on it as soon as we can," McGlasson said. "It's something that has been discussed several times in previous board meetings, so the hope is that the board would be ready to take action during Thursday's meeting."

The lone dissenting vote in Stark County came from Lynn Newton, who has repeatedly challenged the idea of a publicly funded transportation program on principle, as well as some of its specifics. He said Tuesday he was afraid it could lead to extra costs for local taxpayers.

"There's not enough specific language in (the two-county agreement) to explain how that money is going to arrive," he said, "or what our responsibility is going to be."

Gary L. Smith can be reached at (800) 516-0389 or glsmith@mtco.com. Read his Northern Circuit blog at pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Glsmithx.